food crisis in Somalia
In Somalia, a devastating drought, coupled with the effects of three decades of conflict, have created a catastrophic food crisis. Somalia has had five consecutive failed rainy seasons, causing displacement, famine, outbreaks of disease, and malnutrition. By the middle of this year, over 8 million people, nearly half of the population, will face crisis levels of food insecurity.
Food crises do not happen overnight. People are forced to make impossible choices, like skipping meals, marrying off children, or selling their own bodies in order to survive. Children are also more susceptible to common diseases as their bodies are weakened from a lack of nutrition.
This is not a natural disaster, but has several causes including human-caused climate change, decades of conflict, and a dangerous reliance on imported grains from Ukraine and Russia.
This is a huge issue that just hearing about could leave us feeling bleak and hopeless. So now we turn to what God has to say.
Romans 15:13 (NRSV) – “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Psalm 146: 5-7 (NRSV) – “Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.”
Matthew 25:35, 40 (NRSV) – “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink . . . Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”
Isaiah 58:6a,7a,10 (NRSV) – “Is not this the fast that I choose . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry . . . if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.”
Let’s pray to the God of hope!
Almighty God, it breaks our hearts to see people, especially children, suffering from hunger. We pray for you to give the hungry in Somalia what they need today and end their persistent hunger. We cry out to you to send help by providing the food they need to grow and thrive. We pray for hungry families, especially parents straining to feed their children in the reality of dwindling resources. We ask for your blessing on food harvests in Somalia. We ask for conflicts to cease so that needed supplies can reach them. Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord have mercy. We plead with you to protect children’s developing brains and bodies and help each one to grow in wisdom and stature under your loving care. We pray that none of your good plans in each one’s life would be defeated or diminished because of human carelessness, selfishness, or cruelty. Show each one of us what you would have us do to feed the hungry. We ask for your wisdom and guidance to help us know personally and as a church how to eradicate hunger and help people to lift themselves out of poverty. We know that your heart is that each one would flourish to be and to do all that you created them to be and to do. May our hearts be aligned with yours. Help us to love, serve, pray, give, and go with the radical love of Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
